Nike, Apple score in China

BEIJING: Brands including Nike, Apple and Li-Ning are all attracting considerable attention on China's emerging range of microblogging sites, new research has revealed.

Consultancy R3 interviewed 1,500 people across ten major cities, and found 55.7% are utiliising these services, known as Weibo, at present.

Another 13.9% planned to use such platforms in the future, 13.2% had previously done so, 17% stated this pastime held no appeal, and only 0.3% claimed to be unfamiliar with the rapidly-emerging channel.

Some 15.2% of individuals currently or formerly active on the Web 2.0 portals in question had followed sports specialist Nike, which has signed up 57,700 fans through Sina Weibo alone.

"They are leveraging this fan base well to showcase some of their latest products and reporting on sports news in China to maintain interest in the site," said Sunny Chen, a consultant at R3.

Totals stood at 13.2% concerning electronics pioneer Apple, enjoying significant buzz among netizens even though it does not have a formal presence on Weibo properties.

Li-Ning, a local rival to Nike, registered 11%, and was trailed by fellow competitor Adidas, which delivered 9.3% on the same measure.

Lenovo, the IT firm, secured 8.6% here, beating the 6.4% supplied by handset manufacturer Nokia, and the 5.1% received by appliances group Haier and fast-food expert KFC.

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